Seguin cleared 4.40 m to win OFSAA gold, good enough to finish on top of the podium but not quite as high as the Martintown resident was hoping for on the day.
“I want to make the Pan-Am junior standard (which is 4.65 m), and that was my goal at OFSAA but I didn’t have my greatest day,” said Seguin.

He has cleared the mark (and higher) in practice, but doing it in a meet is a different animal. According to his coach, Rory Blackadder, though, it’s only a matter of time.

“I’ve seen him jump very, very high in practice,” said Blackadder. “I believe he’ll go over five metres, and relatively soon too.”

He’s already gone higher than he ever thought he would, when he first picked up the pole in Grade 9.

“I had absolutely no idea about pole vaulting at the time,” recalls Seguin. “I definitely didn’t think I would get to the point I’m at now.”

Did coach Blackadder see it coming?

“He was pretty good right from the start,” said Blackadder. “Did I think he would go on to do what he’s done? Well, no.”

Blackadder coaches most of the pole vaulters in the area, a group which has grown in numbers over the years, due in large part to Blackadder promoting the sport at whatever school he teaches at, and he’s moved around a bit over the years.

He was at Char-Lan when Seguin first started jumping.

“Rory knew my sister pretty well, and the families know each other, we’re both from Martintown, and he just asked me to try it,” said Seguin.

A football player in his earlier years, a dirt-bike racer for awhile, and always a big skier, Seguin was drawn to pole vaulting.

“After Grade 10 I guess, I started to take it a little more seriously,” says Seguin, who trains winter and summer, usually with Blackadder — locally, in Ottawa and occasionally in Toronto.

He’s also started to hit the gym regularly, at Caveman Strong.

“Rings and ropes, different pushups, all kinds of exercises to build strength,” said Seguin.

It helps, but it’s not the most important aspect of pole vaulting.

“Technique is everything,” said Seguin. “Strength is important, no doubt about it, but you can be the strongest guy in the world, but if you don’t have the technique, it won’t matter. Tying them together (strength and technique), that’s the key.”

“They say it’s one of the most technical sports, so hard to master,” says Blackadder. “Now, I’m biased, but I believe that. It’s not easy.”

Making it look so, well, that’s the trick. That’s what Seguin does, what he’s done. And he’s done it at OFSAA against top provincial competitors, many of whom train with university coaches at university facilities.

“For him to win senior boys OFSAA, that’s really something,” said Blackadder. “It’s one thing to do it at the midget level, but senior? That’s not easy.”

Seguin did win OFSAA gold at the midget level. And the junior. And now, also at the senior level (he won senior bronze last year). He also holds the EOSSAA and Regionals records, at the midget, junior and senior levels.

“I could be wrong, but I think he’s the only athlete who can say that,” said Blackadder.

He’ll be back in 2018 too, for another year of high school.

“Next year will dictate, I think, where he’s going,” said Blackadder. “You don’t want to put pressure on him, but it’s a big year. If he gets over five (metres), then maybe the U.S. schools look at him.”

First though, there’s that Pan-Am junior standard to attain, and Seguin has a couple of opportunities to do that in the coming weeks — at a high performance meet in Ottawa this coming weekend, and at a national track and field championship in Ottawa later this summer.

After another year of high school, it will be off to university, where Seguin hopes to continue to vault.

“My goal is just to compete for as long as I can, as high as I can,” he says. “I want to see how high I can go.”